"New Enemies, old friends" tales of the Atomik Punk, part 6

"If Duray was dead, then who is behind the Raiders"? asked Vegas holding a photograph of Col. Duray. "That is one mystery i would like you to solve" said Andrea. "Only thing we have to go on is picking through our leads for clues, including sceanes of all the raids" said the Punk.

The Atomik Punk beagn by searching through the rubble of Massacre's lab in Tera Volta. After some time the Punk discovered what looked like a deep underground tunnel leading off from the main building. This must have been one of Massacre's secret entrances. It was intact and so the Punk had to wonder, could it be Massacre had escaped the Explosion? He didn't find any documents or records. Their was however a map of of Dark Astoria with some notes scrawled in Massacre's hand and the letter "D".

Jazno of the C.O.P. was on hand a few days later and the group pooled it's findings over the past few days. Kata had also found refrences to Dark Astoria, that dead zone of Paragon city haunted by ghosts and worse. Irving Katcher had an office in D.A. and so it was a lead they needed to follow. Surveilance of the building over the next 48 hours gave them what they needed. Raider Sky Skiffs hidden under the dark of night and constant fog of Dark Astoria landing in secrecy on the roof top. The Champions of Paragon were assembled at Midnight. The plan was in place and everyone knew the score. They would come in force and look for clues in the aftermath. It was time to send a signal of their own to the Sky Raiders. "Never mess with what might hurt ya"! said T-5000. "Not quite" said Jazno. More like "We came, we saw,we kicked yer ass"! said Casket. "I like that one" replyed Merozan.

Navigating through Dark Astoria is never taken lightly. The fog and lack of visibilty made it easy to get lost. The sounds of rituals being carried out accross the city by the Circle of Thorns and Banished Pantheon could make your senses reel. Moth Cemetary was also home to Zombies and Ghosts haunting crypts and doing their masters bidding. Everywhere they went the group encountered "spectral images of it's former inhabitants", as Dr. Demoriel called them, before the Rikti wars.

The Office building of Irving Katcher was reached near Toffet Terrance and the C.O.P. entered on the ground floor. It didn't take long for all hell to brake loose. The office hadn't been occupied in a long time, perfect for the Raiders to carry out their plans in secret. The Secret was out. Floor by floor the The C.O.P.went until finally the main control room was breached and the heaviest resistance began.Soon the Raiders began fleeing to the roof top. Soon all eyes were on one figure who seemed to be in charge of the retreat. "Get that creep"! yelled D' Monique. And the group converged on his position under withering fire and a wall of force field generators. It was then that they all saw something unexplainable. One of the Raiders was actually fighting his comrades and taking out generators to help the C.O.P. make it to the roof. He finally reached the man in charge just as the Atomik Punk did and as a pair of claws ripped through the gloves of this "helpful" ally, The Punk knew who it had to be. "Nice to see you old friend" came a muffled voice from behind the Raider helmet. The rest of the group caught up to the Punk and MASSACRE9 in disguise as a Sky Raider! "Get your hands off me traitor"! yelled the man in Massacre's grip. Massacre ripped the man's helmet off."Col. Duray"! said Vegas. "Well now we know who is behind the Raiders" said D' Monique.